Customer contact professionals from all over the country gathered at the atmospheric Schouwburg Gooiland in Hilversum on December 4, 2025 for the annual conference of the Customer Contact Federation (KSF). The central theme this year: “Customer contact is the organization’s gold.” With some 300 attendees on site, more than 1170 participants in the Smartest Customer Contact Quiz and speakers including Jos Burgers, Casper Overbeek and KSF Director Roel Masselink, the day was all about valuable customer contact in a rapidly changing world.
A field in flux
Customer contact has long since ceased to be an executive function. It is a strategic profession, in which technology, human empathy and brand identity come together. During the conference, this was underlined time and again: through inspiring keynotes, practical in-depth sessions and honest conversations about challenges in the workplace.
Roel Masselink, director of the Customer Service Federation, kicked off the day with a powerful message. “Customer contact is not a cost. It is a source of value,” he stated. He presented the preliminary results of the CSF Trend Survey 2025:
- 70% of organizations see customer contact as essential for customer retention and brand trust;
- 62% expect its importance to increase further in the coming years;
- At the same time, only 37% of workplace employees feel adequately prepared for developments such as AI, automation and omnichannel customer interaction.
According to Masselink, there is work to be done. “We see a gap between strategic policy and operational practice. If we really want to value customer contact, we need to invest in both technology and people.”
Therefore, the KSF also presented during the congress the new Code of Responsible Market Conduct, a code of conduct for clients and service providers in customer contact. The code should ensure more transparency, honesty and quality in cooperation and tenders.
Nina de la Croix: customer as person, not ticket
Daytime speaker and cabaret artist Nina de la Croix brought lightness and depth with her personal style. She opened the day with a sharp monologue about her own experiences as a client.
“In the past week I have been in contact with seven organizations,” she told me. “And with almost all of them I had to tell my story all over again. Like I wasn’t a human being, but a file in the system.”
The audience nodded and laughed with recognition. De la Croix showed what many customers feel: lack of recognition. “Technology is great. But we shouldn’t use it to create distance. Customer contact is all about being seen.”
Her plea for sincere attention set the tone for the rest of the day.
Jos Burgers: “Customer focus starts where it hurts”
The keynote by best-selling author and sought-after speaker Jos Burgers was received with applause and silence. His story, without PowerPoint, without embellishments, was powerful, witty and razor-sharp.
“Everyone claims to be customer-centric. But are you still if it costs money, takes time or takes effort?”
According to Burgers, customer focus is not a marketing term, but a moral compass. It’s about making choices. “You can’t be everything at once. Not the cheapest, the fastest AND the friendliest. You have to dare to choose what you excel in.”
He held up a mirror to the audience:
- “We measure all kinds of things: wait time, NPS, handling. But when do we measure whether someone felt heard?”
- “A lot of customer contact is set up for efficiency, not connection.”
- “A customer doesn’t want to be helped. They want to feel helped.”
Citizens told stories from his own practice. About companies that claim to be customer-friendly, but meanwhile follow rigid protocols. About employees who do not dare to deviate from the script. About customers who drop out, not because the product is bad, but because they feel ignored.
“Loyalty is not created by discounting, but by attention.”
His call was clear: make choices, communicate clearly and show customer focus in behavior – especially when the going gets tough.
Casper Overbeek (CitizenM): customer experience as a strategy
Another highlight was the story of Casper Overbeek, Chief Customer Officer at CitizenM Hotels. His presentation was about “reverse thinking”: not starting with processes, but with the feeling you want to give the customer.
“Our first question is not: what is technically feasible? But: how should the customer feel?”
At CitizenM, that leads to self-service with personal touch, high-tech with human warmth. “We want efficiency, but also recognition. That’s why we design every customer moment from emotion. Only then does the technology follow.”
An audience member, a regular guest at CitizenM, spontaneously confirmed, “I always feel seen there, even if I haven’t spoken to anyone.”
It’s exactly what the conference wanted to show: technology is a means, not an end. The experience is what matters.
In-depth sessions: technology with a human heart
In the afternoon, participants dispersed into interactive sessions on current topics:
- Conversational AI: how do you keep automation personal?
- Hybrid customer models: how to combine international scale with local experience?
- Smart tooling: how do you leverage data without losing the human touch?
Speakers came from Vattenfall, TUI, Transcom, Zendesk, Cognigy, Zoom and Orion Intelligence, among others. What stood out: there is a widely shared realization that customer contact is no longer just about accessibility or speed. Empathy, context and trust are considered at least as important.
Also special was the session on AI control: how do employees maintain control over automated contact? A topic that is on the minds of many organizations.
Smartest Customer Contact Quiz: craftsmanship rewarded
Parallel to the conference, the presentation of prizes to the winners of the Customer Contact Quiz. This nationwide knowledge contest attracted 1170 participants from four countries this year. During a festive closing event, the winners were honored:
Smartest Customer Contact Officer:
- 🥇 Monique Havinga (De Friesland)
- 🥈 Sissel Dijkstra (Ymere)
- 🥉 Marieke Genet (Municipality of Almere)
Smartest Customer Contact Manager:
- 🥇 Kim Raijmakers (Social Deal)
- 🥈 Andandi Pattipeilohij (Municipality of Almere)
- 🥉 Wessel Ruizenaar (Bol.com)
Smartest Customer Contact Organization:
- 🥇 The Friesland
- 🥈 Municipality of Almere
- 🥉 Spotler Netherlands B.V.
The awards are not only a token of knowledge, but especially of dedication, customer insight and team strength. According to the judges, participants were judged on their ability to link theory to practice, think customer-focused and act effectively under time pressure.
Reflection: customer contact as cultural capital
The KSF Annual Conference 2025 brought more than insights and figures. It showed that customer contact is a profession that requires leadership, imagination and courage.
The common thread throughout the day? Technology is indispensable. But empathy, attention and humanity determine success.
The industry is on the move. AI and automation offer opportunities, but also bring risks. The shop floor must be included in that development. Employees must be given tools, but also trust. And customers need to feel that they are not a number, but human.
“We think digitalization is taking over the work. But in reality, work is changing. It is becoming more human, not less human,” said a speaker in one of the sessions.
Conclusion: customer contact is a choice, not an afterthought
The KSF Annual Conference 2025 underscored the value of customer contact as a strategic domain. Not as a service department, but as the compass of the organization.
Or, as Jos Burgers put it:
“Customer focus is not a department. It’s an attitude.”
The challenge for organizations now lies in living up to that attitude. In using technology to strengthen relationships. In supporting employees to make an impact. And in not just helping customers, but really touching them.
